Don't be blinkered

[Jean999]

Searching through electronic databases can be great for finding our ancestors. But we may be missing some of the information that people found when they had to laboriously go through the parish records or microfilms/microfiche.

I recently wrote to a distant cousin (I had found her after a google search of the surname). In her reply she confirmed that we are related, and pointed out that one of our ancestors had been an enumerator for the 1861 census.

When I checked on Ancestry, I confirmed that this was the case. But I also realised that I rarely look at the first pages of the census images, where the name of the enumerator is given.

Similarly, relatives may often be living next door to one another. So it is always worth looking at the members of households next door.

 

[Tim]

Yes, it's definitely advisable to look at the image itself, and sometimes I look at the sheets either side if I recognise the street name.

After I tidy up my data some more, I'm gone to have another playing with the mapping functionality in FTAnalyzer, because there's one street in Liverpool that I think every house is occupied by relatives!

 

[peter]

Jean, I hope you invited your cousin to join LostCousins (clearly she can't be a member otherwise you wouldn't have had to resort to Google!).

Findmypast doesn't offer access to the pages at the beginning and end of the enumeration books (not even on the old site) - nor can you browse by enumeration district as you can at Ancestry.

If you do discover an ancestor who was an enumerator you'll have plenty of examples of his handwriting!

 

[Jean999]

I would have invited this cousin to join LostCousins, but she is an elderly lady who does not use a computer. All her research was conducted decades ago in various archives in London.

So we will just have to communicate by writing letters!

 

[Tim]

I'd offer to put her research into a FHS for her if it were me.